Clive,
Thanks for this post -- I have used the idea of 1/3 the normal funds in the 3X Leveraged ETF, for a little more than a year now -- but I couldn't remember where I had first seen the idea.
I use this procedure as a "Catastrophic Stop Loss". If something were to happen that caused me to no longer be able to exercise control over the Portfolio for some time period, two-thirds of my funds would still be "relatively" safe. Four years ago, when my dependent Mother, died, I lost much of my "focus" in the market for nearly 18 months. She died in July 2009 and you know what would have happened to my lifetime savings if I had still been "Short" the market from Feb 2009, when "we" began being helped by Hospice.
The point I am trying to make here, is that I didn't have to be "incapacitated" in any physical or medical sense, to lose "functional" control. So I very deeply appreciate your introducing me to this strategy.
I tend to invest similarly to the pattern described by Ocroft -- all in and all out. So if something happened during the "all in" phase, it really could be "all out"!!!
I have observed, like Ray, that how much gain is achieved in an Up Trend is determined, primarily, by the "Steepness" of the slope. If it is very steep, much more than 3X will be realized, if it is "flatter", it may barely make 3X (like June to Oct 2012) with IWM/TNA (8.85% ~ 27.2%).
Thanks, again, for the suggestion.
Bob
